The Credo
by Bml1997
Summary: From the very beginning, there are two teams with bonds, although they might have never known it. How did these teams arise? A humanized story about the original penguin team and the female penguin team (Skippsy, Marissa, Rachel and Trixy), how those teams got together and their very first mission.
1. A Meeting with Commander Gray

**A.N.- Okay, here is a new story that I got the sudden inspiration for. I hope you will enjoy it! :D**

* * *

**Chapter 1: A Meeting with Commander Gray**

"Fastah, Thomas! Fastah!" Trixy Guen exclaims to the boy running right next to her. Trixy is a girl with long blond hair tied back into a ponytail with a pink ribbon, dark blues eyes, and is wearing white tennis shoes, blue jeans, and a pink t-shirt.

"I'm running as fast as I can already, Trixy!" Thomas Tux pants back at Trixy. Thomas is a boy with short dark brown hair, light blue eyes, and is wearing a white t-shirt, black tennis shoes, and blue jeans.

"Well, then run even fastah!" Trixy pants and rolls her eyes. "Do you _want_ to be caught by _them_?!"

"Of course I don't _want_ to be! But, I can't run any fastah!" The two teenagers run around a corner and into a small alley. They skid to a stop as they run to the very end of the alley and reach a brick wall.

"Buckingham! A dead end!" They turn around with their backs to the wall. The sounds of tennis shoes pounding on sidewalk echo throughout the alley as some shadows run across the alley's walls. "Quick, Tom, give me a boost!" Thomas nods and leans down for Trixy to climb up onto his shoulders. Trixy then scrambles up onto the top of the wall. She reaches her small hand down for Thomas; he takes it gladly and scrambles up the wall, also.

"Come back here you cowards!" One of the other kids that is chasing after them shouts after seeing them on the top of the wall. Trixy and Thomas glance back at them over their shoulders, and then jump down from the wall on the other side. They hit the ground running and do not stop until they have raced inside a big white house with black window shutter and door. They slam the door and lock it behind them.

"Th-That was close…" Thomas stutters as they both slide down the door, panting hard.

"You're telling me, Tom." Trixy says as she stands back up and dusts herself off. She turns around and looks at Thomas. "I'd still _love _to know why the Buckingham they chase _us_?! What have we evah done to them?"

Thomas shrugs and holds up a hand. Trixy takes it and half pulls him, half helps him up. "I don't know, Trix…Maybe Lewis or Uncle Nigel would know?" He suggests.

"Maybe…Speaking of Lewis; when is he supposed to come back from work?" She asks.

"I don't really know…He just said that he'd be back tonight…"

"Gosh, you'd think that a lieutenant would be able to give a more specific time than that!...But, then again, he _is_ Lewis."

Thomas nods. "Yes, he is indeed Lewis."

Trixy nods also. "How's your head, by the way?" She asks and looks at him.

"My head?"

"Yes, your head…Wasn't it your head that they hit with a shoe?"

"Ohhhhh! Yes, it was my head…I think it is fine."

Trixy nods. "Alright." She sets her backpack down on the floor near the tan couch and walks off to the kitchen. Thomas also sets his backpack down and then follows her. Trixy gets out some tuna salad out of the refrigerator and some bread and two plates off a shelf. "Well, at least school's finally ovah for the year, right?" She smiles and sets the plates, bread, and tuna salad on the table.

Thomas nods. "Yeah…It'll be nice to go a couple months without being chased home and having things thrown at our heads."

"Too true." Trixy gives a small laugh. She gets two non-sharp knives out of a cutlery drawer and brings them to the table. Thomas takes one, a plate, and two slices of bread and makes a tuna salad sandwich. Trixy does the same.

"Too bad I won't be here all summah…" Thomas mumbles as he finishes spreading the tuna salad on his sandwich bread.

Trixy looks up at him from her sandwich. "What?"

Thomas looks at the table. "Lewis told Cecelia, George, and I that we are all going to the States for most of the summah…" He says quietly. He looks back at Trixy. "I don't want to go, though. I really, really don't."

Trixy continues to look at him. "So…You'll be gone all summah, again and I'll be stuck with Jenna and William?" She asks with a sigh. "Great…" She mumbles sarcastically and takes a bite of her sandwich.

Private nods slowly and takes a bite of his own sandwich. After a moment he swallows and says, "Maybe…Maybe we could ask your mum and see if you could come with us?"

Trixy nods. "I hope she'll say yes. I don't want this summah to be like last summah…That was soooooo boring!" She takes another bite of her sandwich. "I mean…I read all of my books in two days, memorized _Romeo and Juliet _in a week, and I even figured out how to hack William's laptop in a couple of days! That summah was a total waste!"

Thomas looks at her. "You hacked your brothah's computah?"

Trixy shrugs. "I did…There wasn't anything interesting on it, though."

Thomas continues to look at her. "You hacked your brothah's computah?" He says again, surprised.

Trixy looks at him a bit strangely and nods. "Yeeees. I hacked his computah."

"Why?"

She shrugs again. "Because I could and he had 'borrowed' my diary…I still haven't gotten that back from him…" She frowns and takes another bite of her tuna salad sandwich.

Private nods slowly. "Oh…Okay." He says and then finishes his sandwich. They then hear the door open and close and turn their heads towards the living room. "I guess that'd be Lewis…"

* * *

"No, Kowalski, you _IDIOT_!" Marissa Zaleńska exclaims with a face-palm. Marissa is a tall woman in her late-twenties with mid-length black hair pulled back into a low ponytail. She has on a pair of brown glasses making her green eyes look a bit larger than normal and a long white lab coat. She glares at the other scientist next to her. He is also tall, with short black hair that is kind of sticking up a little from some static electricity. He looks back at her with a pair of protective goggles on over his blue eyes. "I said nothing about electricity! I said it needed have a cup of shock! Shock as in what you put in pools! Not electrical shock! I thought you had enough intelligence in that tiny brain of yours to know what I meant!"

"Well, _EXCUSE ME_ that not two seconds ago you were talking about lightning and then told me to shock it! How was I supposed to know that you and your _moronic_ mind were on a stupid tangent _again_?!" Kowalski Malara shouts back, throwing his arms up in emphases.

"It was not _stupid_! You are the stupid one for not being able to keep up with my _higher_ intelligence!"

Kowalski snorts. "Higher intelligence?! Higher intelligence my foot! An amoeba has more intelligence than you!"

"An amoeba?!" Marissa gives a snort of laughter. "Is that the worst insult you and your imbecilic mind could conjure up? Oh, pity." She taps him on the nose and then walks over to a group of chemicals and some beakers.

Kowalski glares at her and then rolls his eyes and walks over to the complete other side of the room to a computer. "Imbecilic mind…Imbecilic mind, indeed…" He mumbles and presses a few keys on the computer's key board.

* * *

Rachel Antonio, a young woman in her early twenties with short black hair and long purple bangs and blue eyes, sits back in her seat. She is holding a small cell phone up to her ear as she does so. "I know, Alejandro, I know…" She says. She grabs a magazine off a shelf near her and begins to flip through it. "Sí, I'll be careful." She rolls her eyes. "Adios, Alejandro." She hangs up and tosses the phone a little bit away from her on the desk. A knock is then heard on the door. "Come in." She says.

"Hola, Rachel." A woman with green streaks in her long black hair says as she opens the door and enters.

"Oh, hola, Carmelita." Rachel smiles at her.

Carmelita nods and sits down on the edge of Rachel's bed. "So…You're leaving tomorrow?" She asks.

Rachel nods. "Sí…I have the possibility for my first recruitment for a team." She smiles excitedly. "I have to go all the way to Washington DC for it, though…"

Carmelita gives her a very small smile. "Well…Good luck, Maite and I will miss you, you know?"

"I'll miss you two, too!" Rachel says. She walks over to Carmelita and gives her a hug. "I'll make sure and come and visit at my first opportunity. Promise."

Carmelita nods with a smile. "You better…"

* * *

"General Garrison, the files, please?" Commander Grace Gray, a woman in her mid-forties, in a military uniform says to a man standing near her. She tucks a strand of graying hair that has loosed itself from her bun back behind her ear. General Garrison, a man in his late-forties, also in military dress nods and hands her a stack of files. "Thanks." Commander Gray takes the files and then slides them across the table to the two people across the table from her; Skipper and Skippsy Davis.

The woman with short, bob-styled black hair and ice blue eyes takes the files and opens one. She hands the other to her twin brother, Skipper, a man with military-styled, close cut black hair and ice blue eyes. They are both in their mid-thirties. Skippsy looks curiously at the files. "What are these, Commander?" She asks glancing up at Commander Gray.

Commander Gray puts her hands together with her elbows on the table and looks back at Skippsy. "Files for your new teams."

"_NEW TEAMS?!_" Skippsy and Skipper both exclaim with open mouths.

Commander Gray nods. "Yes, new teams. I know that neither of you fully believe that Manfredi, Johnson, Bethany, or Nicole are gone…But, it is time to face the facts; they've been MIA for a little over two months now, they're most likely dead."

Skipper and Skippsy shake their heads. "No. No, I will _not_ accept another team…Not yet." Skipper says. He then stands up and walks out of the room. General Garrison watches him leave. He glances questioningly at Commander Gray; she shakes her head. General Bob nods and goes back to leaning against the wall.

Skippsy sighs. "Alright…So, who all were you thinking of, Commander?" She asks quietly as she glances through the files.

"As your lieutenant I have plans to transfer Marissa Zaleńska, a scientist and an excellent strategist from the Warsaw base and as your sergeant I plan for rookie weapons specialist Rachel Antonio of the Lima base." Commander Grace says.

Skippsy nods. "And who for a private?"

"Private?" Commander Gray asks.

"Yes, private…"

Commander Gray face-palms. "I knew I was forgetting something…Drat…" She looks back at Skippsy. "I don't have you any privates planned out yet. I'll message you as soon as I do, though, okay?"

Skippsy nods. "Alright, Commander." She says. She then stands up. "I guess I'll go round up Skipper…It may be best just to toss his team members at him without his knowing…"

Commander Gray nods. "Probably so, yes…" Skippsy nods and then leaves. General Garrison watches her leave and then sits down at the table beside Commander Gray. Commander Gray looks at him. "Find me some possible privates, please, Bob."

General Garrison nods. "Sure thing, Grace." He gives a smile. "Where would I find one?" He asks a bit jokingly.

Commander Gray shrugs. "In the files…In a training base…Family members of current agents…You know, places like that." She says.

General Garrison nods. "Of course, of course…Report any findings directly to you?"

"Duh." Commander Gray says with a small laugh. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Bob, I have a meeting I need to go to." She then stands up and walks out of the room. General Garrison follows her out.


	2. The Weapons Specialist

**A.N.- And here is chapter two! I hope you all enjoy it! :D**

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Weapons Specialist**

A man with short, dark brown hair and blue-green eyes, wearing a military uniform walks into the room. Trixy and Thomas wave to him as he comes into the kitchen. "Hello, Lewis." Trixy greets him with a smile. Lewis nods back at her and goes straight to the coffee machine.

"Has Cecelia or George come up or down yet?" Lewis asks as he sits down with his cup of coffee.

Trixy and Thomas shake their heads. "No, sir." Thomas says. "We haven't seen eithah of them yet."

Lewis nods. "Alright then." He says and takes another large sip of his coffee. He looks at Thomas and Trixy from over the cup's rim. "So…How was your last day of school?" He asks.

Trixy and Thomas look at each other. "Umm…Fine." Thomas says a bit hesitantly. Trixy nods in agreement.

Lewis raises an eyebrow at them. "Care to elaborate?" They shake their heads; Lewis frowns. "Squirt, was it those kids from school again?" Neither of them says anything; they just look at the table avoiding eye-contact. Lewis sighs. "I guess it's a good thing that we're going to spend summah in the States again."

"No, it's not…" Thomas mumbles.

"What was that, Squirt?"Lewis asks.

"Nothing, sir." Thomas says.

"Um hmm?" Lewis gives him a look and Thomas sinks down in his chair some. "Are you sure, Squirt? You don't look sure."

Thomas sighs. "I don't want to go to the States…At least not without Trixy…" He says quietly, looking at the table still.

Lewis looks at him and then at Trixy. "Okay, fine." He shrugs.

Thomas and Trixy look up at him. "Okay?" They ask, surprised. Lewis nods. "So, we both are going?"

Lewis nods again. "I don't see a reason why not…" Trixy and Thomas tackle him with a hug. "Hey! Watch the coffee!" He exclaims and quickly catches the cup before it could fall over. Lewis gives a small sigh in relief.

"Whoops…Heheh, sorry." Thomas and Trixy say with slightly sheepish smiles. Lewis rolls his eyes with a small laugh. A phone then rings.

"I've got it!" Trixy says and then runs over to the phone and answers it. "Hello? Oh, hello, Mum." She smiles and looks at Thomas. "Oh…Oh, okay…Sure…Sure, I'll come on home…Okay…See you soon." She then hangs up the phone and looks at Thomas and Lewis with a sigh. "Mum says I need to come home now." She frowns.

"Okay…" Thomas says with a small frown. "I guess talk to you tomorrow?" He asks as he walks with her back to the living room and her backpack.

Trixy nods with a smile. "If everything goes right, yes." Thomas opens the door for her as she picks up her pink and white backpack. "Cheerio, Thomas." She says with a wave and then leaves.

"Cheerio, Trixy." Thomas says and waves. Once Trixy is out of sight, he closes the door.

* * *

"Ten grams of chlorine…Twenty-two milliliters of that mystery substance of hers…" Kowalski mumbles as he mixes chemicals together from two small test tubes into an Erlenmeyer flask. He gives a small smile as he swishes the substances together in the flask.

"**_BOO!_**" Marissa exclaims coming up behind Kowalski.

"Agh!" He exclaims with a jump. He drops the flask on the ground. It shatters and the chemical begins to burn a hole in the floor. Kowalski looks down at it with a frown, and then looks at Marissa with a very angry glare. She returns his glare with a smirk. "You ruined my experiment." He complains.

Marissa shrugs. "And you ruined mine earlier, your point being…?" She says with a small laugh.

Kowalski continues to glower at her for a few more moments before rolling his eyes and returning his gaze to the rapidly growing hole in the floor. "Look what you and your infantile shenanigans have done."

"What I did? You're the klutz who dropped it." Marissa sticks her tongue out at him as she walks past him to her own chemical experiment.

"And _I_ would not have dropped it if _YOU_ hadn't surprised me with your childish games!" Kowalski gives her another glare as he gets a broom to sweep up the shattered flask. Marissa doesn't say anything; she just gives a small snort of derision. Kowalski finishes sweeping up and then looks at the hole. "Now there's _another_ hole in the floor." He says with a small sigh.

"How many holes are there total, again?" She asks, not really caring as she twirls a strange green liquid around in a beaker and holds it up to the light.

Kowalski picks up a clipboard off of a nearby cabinet and adds a tally mark to several others on the page. "This one makes…Thirteen." He says and then nods. "Thirteen holes in our floor. Six are from chemicals, three from explosions, and two from that new weaponry's backfire last month."

Marissa nods. "Interesting…" She mumbles, completely ignoring what Kowalski had just said. She gets another clipboard and takes a few notes about her experiment. "Verrrrrrrry interesting…"

Kowalski looks at her. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Huh?" Marissa says glancing at him. "Did you say something?"

"See?! See this is what I was talking about yesterday at lunch! You never listen to me!" Kowalski begins to rant. Marissa glances at him. "You ask me something, and then you ignore the answer!"

She then turns and then looks at him with her arms crossed. "Alright then, _oh great idiotic partner of mine_, what? What for crying out loud were you wanting to tell me?" She says sarcastically while giving him a look.

"Doesn't matter now!" Kowalski says rolling his eyes and turning away.

"And _this_ is why I don't listen! You never say anything worth merit!" Marissa says and turns back to her experiment.

Kowalski takes off his lap coat and hangs it up on a hook by the door. "I'm leaving now."

"Fine, bye. Don't let the door hit you on your way out to your _precious_ _Doris_." Marissa says with a small growl. She holds her experiment up to the light again; she watches Kowalski walk out in the reflective surface of the beaker. He slams the lab door closed behind him. Marissa then slowly lowers the beaker and then turns and looks at the door with a small sigh. "That lucky oceanologist…" She mumbles and looks again at her green liquid.

* * *

Rachel steps off her plane. A tall, well built man in military dress with short dark brown hair and bright blue eyes stands near a taxi and gives her a small wave. She gives him a small smile and walks over to him. She gives him a small salute when she gets near, and he returns it. "Sergeant Rachel Antonio reporting." She says.

The man nods with a smile. "Alright." He says. "I am General Garrison. I am to be your escort to base, miss."

Rachel nods. "Yes, sir." She then gets into the taxi. General Garrison does the same. He then gives a signal to the taxi driver who then nods and starts the taxi. Rachel looks at General Garrison. "So…" She says slowly and a bit nervously.

General Garrison looks at her. "You'd probably like to know something about your new skipper, correct?" He asks as he picks up his case out of the floor beside him.

Rachel nods. "Yes, sir, very much, sir." She says.

General Garrison nods and takes out an orange file folder out of the case and hands it to her. "This is all of the unclassified information about her." He says.

"Just unclassified? Why not the classified parts too?" Rachel asks as she opens the file and starts reading it.

"Because, well, because they're classified and for her and her superiors' eyes only." He says, somewhat surprised at the question.

"Oh…" Rachel says quietly as she skims through the file. "Who were Bethany and Nicole?"

"Skipper Skippsy Davis's former team."

"Former? What happened to them?"

"Classified." General Garrison looks out the window and watches the cars and other taxis going by. "How much further?" He asks the taxi driver.

The taxi driver looks back at him in the mirror. "Not much, sir." He says. General Garrison nods and goes back to looking out the window. He then takes out some more files out of his case and begins flipping through them.

Rachel sees him do this and looks at him curiously. "Whose are those?" She asks.

General Garrison gives a small jump and then gives a sigh. "Classified." He says and then closes and opens another file. He skims through this one also. "Not going to work either…" He mumbles and closes it.

* * *

"…Okay, Mr. Gonzales, is it?" Commander Gray starts as she looks at the man across from her at the table. He is rather tall, well-built, has black hair that is spiked up into a small Mohawk, blue eyed, in camo-colored long pants, black combat boots and a black sleeveless t-shirt. There is a long scar across his left cheek. The man nods. "Okay…What did you say your first name was again? I couldn't quite tell what you said over the phone…"

"Rico. Rico Gonzales." He says with a slightly gruff voice.

Commander Gray nods. "Right, right, Rico…" She says slowly as she opens and looks at a file. "You're a trained weapons specialist, correct?" Rico nods. Commander Gray also nods and looks over the file some more. She glances at him occasionally. "You're not much of a conversationalist are you, Mr. Gonzales?" He shakes his head; Commander Gray nods. "Alright…" She reads through the file some more. "Have any current skippers or leaders?"

"No, ma'am." He replies shaking his head.

Commander Gray nods. "Okay…Do you happen to know or have met a Mr. Skipper Davis?" Rico thinks for a moment and then nods and Commander Gray raises an eyebrow. "You have?"

"Yes, ma'am…I worked with him a little on a mission a few years ago…" He says in his gruff voice.

"Excellent." Commander Gray says with a smile. "Then he's your new skipper." She says standing up. "It was a pleasure to talk with you today, Mr. Gonzales. I'll have a file sent to your dorm with everything you need to know." Rico nods and then also stands up.

"Thank you, ma'am." He says and then leaves. Commander Gray nods and follows him out. She then walks away from him in the other direction towards her office.


	3. What About the Credo?

**A.N.- And here is chapter 3 :D **

* * *

**Chapter 3: What About the Credo?**

Commander Gray walks into her office and sits down at her desk. She lifts a teal-colored binder and a dark blue ball-point pen and looks through a check list. "Alright let's see...Weapons specialists, check. Skippers, check... Lieutenants? ...Almost check...I need to get that Ms. Zaleńska here for Skippsy's team...And well...I guess I could grab that other scientist that she works with for Skipper's team..." Commander Gray mumbles to herself as she makes blue check marks beside things on her checklist. "But _what_ am I going to do about privates?!" She sits back in her swivel-chair with a sigh and wipes her hand over her face.

General Garrison takes a step into Commander Gray's office and knocks on the open door. "Commander?" He asks.

Commander Gray looks over at the door. "Ah, Bob, come in." She says. General Garrison nods and steps further into the room. "Found anything for me yet?"

"Euhm...Not quite yet...But, I _have_ picked up that Ms. Antonio from the airport..." He says.

Commander Gray nods. "Alright...I'll talk to her in a second in the conference room...Are you positive you haven't found a private or two yet?"

"Yes, ma'am, very positive." General Garrison nods and looks at her.

"Okay...Well, keep searching...I need some asap."

"Of course, Commander." General Garrison nods and starts back towards the door. "I'll get right back on it."

"Good." She says as General Garrison takes his leave and goes back to his own office. Commander Gray grabs a file on her desk and looks through it. "Hmmm…" She mumbles as she looks the file over. "Nah." She says and then tosses it to one side of her desk with a small sigh.

* * *

"Ah, come on Skips! It's time to move on, like Commander Gray said..." Skippsy says as she gently puts her hand on her twin's shoulder. Skipper shrugs her hand off with a small glare. "Skipper..."

"I said no, Skippsy! They're still out there! I know it." He says turning towards her with a small growl. "And I _won't_ give up on them."

"Sure they are...But wouldn't it be easier to look for them if you had a...New team to go with you?" Skippsy asks softly.

"I'd prefer to continue looking for them _alone_." Skipper then turns away and starts to walk off.

Skippsy frown and follows determinedly after him. "But, Skipper! What about the credo!?"

"Pfft! What does buttermilk and Bisquick have to do with any of this?" He asks and looks weirdly at Skippsy.

"Not _that_ one." She says with a small sigh as she face-palms. "You know the other credo? Never swim alone? Ring any bells, Skips?" She asks.

Skipper shrugs. "Did Benjamin follow that credo when he ran into that building with that bomb in it alone?" He asks and gives Skippsy a meaningful look.

"Don't you **_DARE_** bring my Benny into this!" Skippsy growls and pokes Skipper in the chest angrily.

"Then you stop talking credo to me, Skippsy." Skipper growls and walks briskly away from Skippsy.

Skippsy watches him go with a glare. "Well, fine! Be that way, Skipper! But you haven't heard the end of this, brother! You can count on it!" She shouts at him as she turns and walks angrily away in the other direction.

* * *

Trixy leans forward in her seat between Cecelia, Thomas's sister, and Thomas. "Are we almost there yet?" She asks impatiently and excitedly.

Lewis sighs and glances back at her in the mirror. "No, Trixy, we are not." He says. "Now can you _please_ go ten minutes _without_ asking?" He asks. Lewis then glances over at George, Thomas's other older brother. "Alright, navigatah, which exit?" He asks.

"Uh...Left?...No, wait, right!" George stutters as he looks at the map and turns it around.

"Well, which is it, George? Left or right?" Lewis asks as he a bit irritably drums his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Right...I think..." George says hesitantly.

"Let me see that!" Cecelia says annoyedly as she reaches forward and grabs the map out of her twin brother's hands. She looks at it with a small sigh. "George, you were reading it upside down...Again. We should actually be staying straight, Lewis." She says. She then gives George a small look. "This is _exactly_ why I should be the navigatah."

"And there they go again..." Thomas whispers with a silent laugh to Trixy as he jokingly rolls his eyes.

Trixy laughs a little silently, too. "Well, at least it's entertaining." She whispers back.

Thomas looks at her with his light blue eyes. "To a point, I guess...Though it gets rathah quite annoying rathah quickly..." He says with a small shrug.

"Does it?" Trixy asks as she curiously looks back at Thomas with her dark blue eyes. "It seems more interesting than when William or Jenny and I fight..." She says silently.

"And that's because you are part of the fight and not watching them."

"Hmm...True." Trixy says as she ponders this a moment. She can't believe still that her mother had actually agreed that she could go with them. Her father had been all for it. For some odd reason he thought that this all had something to do with the military; now why the Buckingham he thought that, Trixy has no clue. Trixy looks at Lewis again. "Are we—"

"**NO**!" Lewis says aggravated. "We are **NOT** almost there! Okay?!"

"Okay...Gees..." Trixy says silently to herself and sits back in her seat. She wonders if Lewis is going to be this grouchy for the entire trip. She hopes not.

* * *

Kowalski walks up to a door in the Oceanology department of the Warsaw military base and knocks lightly on the door. He holds a pretty bouquet of flowers behind his back happily.

"Hello?" Asks a lady as she opens the door and looks at Kowalski. "Oh! Hello, Kowalski." She says nicely with a small smile.

"Hello, Doris." Kowalski smiles widely at the blond haired woman. He brings out the flowers from out behind his back and holds them out towards her. "These are for you." He says.

"Oh, euhm, that's every sweet of you, Kowalski..." Doris says and forces a smile as she takes the flowers.

"Sweet enough that I could possibly take you out to dinner tonight?" Kowalski asks her with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

Doris looks at Kowalski and then at the flowers. "No...No, I'm sorry, Kowalski. I can't." She says silently and she looks softly at him. "I-I mean, Kowalski, I like you...But you see, I don't—"

"But you don't like me, like me?" Kowalski finishes silently with a sigh.

Doris nods. "Right...But, you're a great man and an even better scientist, Kowalski, don't get me wrong...But, I'd really just prefer us to stay friends. I'm sorry, Kowalski." She says softly.

Kowalski nods slowly. "Alright…" He says silently with his head bent a bit towards the floor and his eyes downcast. Doris nods and softly shuts the door. Kowalski sighs and starts walking back towards his and Marissa's department.


End file.
